Emerald City Stamp Revisited

A few years ago I made an Emerald City stamp inspired by the illustrations in the book "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire.  (See the original post here!) I made it with a stamping rubber and craft knife purchased at my local craft supply store.  You can see that it is dyed green from the colors I have stamped it, and it broke in half at some point in storage.  I thought it was neat to try, and I liked the results, but I decided I probably wouldn't do it again.

That is... until I got my hands on Stampin' Up!'s Undefined carving kit!

For my first carved stamp using the Undefined kit, I decided to replicate my Emerald City stamp.  I was so impressed with the carving tools and the texture of the rubber--much easier than my previous experience with carving!  It also produces a better quality stamped image.  I will definitely keep a couple of these on hand to give to some of my artistic friends!

What have you created with Undefined?

Thanks for joining me!
~Lauren

Project Life 'Hi' Card

I am absolutely in love with the new Project Life by Stampin' Up! line. 
If you saw my previous post, Engagement Digital Scrapbook Page, I mentioned that I used the Everyday Adventure brush set from the digital download.  Today's project uses a card from the Everyday Adventure set, in paper rather than digital format.  I love working hands on with projects, not just digital--and Project Life is great for quick scrapbook pages using the pocket-page format.
HOWEVER, I can also see a number of uses for the Project Life line outside of scrapbook pages.  I wanted this card to be fun to look at (and to make!) and be something that could be given for any purpose.
I started with one of the small Project Life cards--a blue one that says HI.  The ombre watercolor effect was super easy to achieve with the new Work of Art stamp set from the 2014-15 catalog and various shades of yellow ink.

I really like how this turned out, and I would love to hear the unique ideas you have come up with for using Project Life cards and accessories!

~Lauren

Xan Man's 1st Birthday Invitations

I cannot believe my little guy is turning 1 already!  Because we are having a pool-side party, we decided on a pirate theme.  My  Digital Studio has the perfect pirate party download--  Ahoy, Matey Ensemble--for darling invitations and accessories.

This was such an easy project.  I started with a custom template of a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 greeting card, and selected Poppy Parade for the background paper.  I then added a piece of patterned paper from the Ahoy, Matey set, and a plain white paper to 'mount' my photo on.  I like to give everything a little drop shadow to add dimension to the project.  The 'Our little man' text came from the designer embellishment set, On the Go, which was included with the software.  It didn't quite seem complete, so for a finishing touch I added the bakers twine embellishment.  Sweet and simple, don't you think?

This is one of the first projects I have created on MDS and I am extremely impressed with how easy it was!  If you haven't already given the digital scrapbooking a try, I highly recommend it.  You can even get a free 30-day trial just to get an idea of how awesome it is.  I would love to hear about your creative uses of the Ahoy, Matey set, or any other fun projects!

Happy digital scrapbooking!

~Lauren